Difficult to compare the health crisis which has put the sport at a standstill, or almost, for almost two years, and the fuel shortage which has affected a major part of France in recent days. Still, part of the two million or so licensees that the FFF has is – again – at a standstill this weekend. Many districts have decided to postpone the competitions scheduled for today and tomorrow ” due to the very complicated situation encountered […] for the supply of fuel, penalizing professional and family trips of greater importance, and so that equity is respected ».
Not a federal directive but decisions taken on a case-by-case basis, depending on the impact of the shortage at the local level. Some Leagues, like the Center Val-de-Loire, Hauts-de-France, the Mediterranean, in particular, have indicated their desire to see the meetings maintained (Regional Cups, R1, R2, R3, young people), leaving it to the Districts to decide on departmental competitions. Thus, the panorama of French football promises to be unprecedented this weekend: some Districts will be completely stopped while others will not be affected at all. Here and there, only senior competitions can be played, while other departments announce a tolerance to postpone certain meetings at the request of visiting clubs, sometimes with the introduction of a kilometer radius.
No worries for the Coupe de France
« It’s annoying because at the start of the season, we need to play, and the children don’t really understand why they are deprived of footballestimated yesterday an educator of a club concerned by the general postponement in his department. But it’s true that there are priorities, being able to go to work, in particular: for once, we have the impression that there is a little common sense behind this decision. »
As for the Federation – whose deployment of fuel aid for 8,595 clubs announced in June is underway – it was confirmed yesterday that the 120 trips planned for national competitions were maintained, and that the sixth round of the Coupe de France, the last organized by the Leagues before the entry into the running of the Ligue 2 clubs (on October 29 and 30), was not the subject of any request for postponement.
The calendar of amateur clubs, less and less loaded as one descends in the “hierarchy”, allows more easily, in theory, these postponements. As long as they don’t multiply.
